The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-09
THE RINGS IN TREES.
Little Reliance to be Placed Upon Them
as Indications of Age.

From the Lumber World.
Every day some pet theory, long held and
honestly venerated, is being demolished and
sent to the limbo of myth with Tells apple,
Washington's cherry tree and other old ac-
quaintances Now the age rings in trees has
to suffer limbonization, if the word may tie
allowed. Mr. r. w. Furras, an agent of the
United States Forestry Department, who
has given much attention to the age of tree
as indicated by rings, as we'll as 20 the pc
Rod at which trees of different species stop
growing and that at which the wood is at
It's best, has reached some conclusions of
general interest, He says:
''COncentric or annual rings, which were
once accepted as good legal evidence, fail,
except where climate, soil, temperature, hu-
Nudity and all other surroundings are regu-
lar and well balanced. Otherwise they are
mere guesswork. The only region within
my knowledge where either rings or meas
urements were reliable indications are in the
secluded even and regularly tempered val
leys of the southern Pacific coast"
Annual measurements of white elm, ca
talpa, soft maple, sycamore, pig hickory,
cottonwood, chestnut, box elder, honey 10
Gust, coffee tree, burr and white oak, black
walnut Usage orange, white pine, red cedar.
mulberry and yellow willow az species),
made in Southeastern Nebraska, show that
annual growth is very irregular, sometimes
scarcely perCeptible and again quite large, -"
and this he attributes to the difference in
seasons AS trees increase in age inner rings
decrease in size, sometimes almost disap-
pearing. Diminished rate of growth after
certain age is a rule. OF four great
beeches mentioned by Loudon there were
three, each about Z feet in girth, whose ages
were respectively 90, l02 and POO years. Mr..
Furras found T. rings in black locust 8
years old, 81 rings i'll shell-bark hickory of
IL years, 10 rings in pig hickory of 6years,
II rings in wild crab apple of ) years, and
only 20 rings in a chestnut oak of "a years.
An American chestnut of only years had
Brings, while peach OF years had only 3
rings.
DIR. A. NJ Chids, resident of Nebraska
from 1854 to 1882, a careful observer for the
Smithsonian Institution, who counted rings
on some soft naples II years , months Old.
found on one side of the heart of one of
them 40 rings and not less than 30 anywhere,
which We're quite distinct when the wood
was green, but after it had been seasoned
only "a rings could be distinguished An
other expert says that all our Northern hard
woods make many rings year, sometimes
as many as II, but us the last set of cells in
years growth are very small and the first
very large the annual growth can always be
determined except when from local causes
there is in any particular year little or no
cell growth. This may givea large number
on one side. Upon the Pacific coast of North
America trees do not reach the point where
they stop growing nearly as carly as those
of the Atlantic coast. Two hundred years
is nearly the greatest age attained on the
eastern side OF the continent by trees that
retain their vigor, While 800 years in the
case of several species Oh the western coast,
and one writer is confident that a sequoia
which was measured was not less than 1870
years Old. At Wrangel, latitude 30 90, a
Western hemlock, d feet in diameter at the
stump, was feet III diameter 1872 feet fur
ther up the trunk and its rings showed 1872
years But in the Old Bartram Garden, near
Philadelphia, not more than $50 years old,
almost all the trees are on the down grade.
The Quercus Robar, England's pride, which
ct home is said to live 900 years, has grown
to full size and died il this garden, and the
foreign spruces are following suit. Silver
frs planted in 1900 are decaying. This great
difference i'll the longevity of trees upon the
western and eastern coasts of continents in
the Northern Hemisphere seems to be due
to the warm, moist air carried by strong
and permanent ocean currents, from the
tropics northeasterly, in both the Pacific
and Atlantic oceans, which make the eli
mate both moist and equable in high lati-
tudeS. In Sitka, latitude 81 as much as
100 inches of rain have fallen in a year and
the harbOr is rarely frozen enough to hinder
the passage of boats. In some winters
scarcely any ice is seen.